This study explores resilience as an empirical phenomenon from the interactive perspective of Industrial Marketing and Purchasing (IMP) in order to understand how firms build and manage interdependencies within their business environment to become and remain resilient in the face of turbulent change. The paper reviews managerial literature on resilience and relates it to IMP's basic tenets of firm interaction and resource interdependence within the contexts of business networks and business environment, as well as the concept of social capital. This analytical framework is used to analyse selected vignettes from an in-depth case study of a firm and its business network operating in a turbulent industrial market under chronically uncertain institutional conditions in Russia. This paper presents a context-bound model of firm resilience, explaining how it is achieved in a business network situated in a particularly turbulent business environment, specifically highlighting the role of social capital in accessing resources. The paper contributes to the conceptual base of IMP with a context-sensitive interpretation of resilience, while also nuancing the views of IMP on the function of business networks and the nature of resource interdependencies, as well as problematising the network logic that may encourage the development of resilience through shady means.

In response to a growing influence of patients, higher specialisation, technological advancement and the need to provide care services more efficiently, the issue of sustainability in healthcare has gained prominence. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the social and economic sustainability of healthcare are dependent on interconnecting resources across organisational borders and in different settings over time. Adopting a product development process perspective, the paper explores the gap between a planned healthcare facility and how it actually came to be used, through a longitudinal case study of the Skandion clinic, a small, highly specialised, hospital in Sweden. The findings suggests that integration of healthcare resources over time is central to achieve social and economic sustainability goals. The results hereby contend the prevailing view of hospitals as inde-pendent organisational units and highlights the need for more holistic analyses of sustainability in healthcare. Analyses which take into account the complex interdependencies stretching across networks of interconnected facilities and organisational units.

För ett decennium sedan inleddes det som ofta kallas ”den andra sjukhusvågen” med syftet att modernisera Sveriges befintliga sjukhusbestånd, uppfört under framför allt 70-och 80-talen. Dessa moderniserade sjukhus inrymmer ny medicinsk teknik och ska kunna möta både nutida och framtida utmaningar såsom en åldrande befolkning, multisjuka patienter, antibiotikaresistens och smittspridning. En central fråga inom alla byggprojekt, men inte minst i sjukhusprojekt, är hur den kunskap som krävs från ett flertal olika aktörer såsom byggherre, byggentreprenörer, vårdverksamhet, och olika tekniska discipliner ska integreras för byggprocessens, slutproduktens och skattebetalarnas bästa. Den kunskapsintegration som krävs innefattar både kunskapsutbyte mellan aktörer och en gemensam kunskapsutveckling i skapandet av nya hållbara lösningar. Erfarenhetsåterföring mellan projekt och enskilda organisationer är också av stor betydelse för att åstadkomma en systemisk kunskapsuppbyggnad över tid. De större sjukhusprojekt som har genomförts har ofta upphandlats som samverkansprojekt och därför omfattar studien även hur samverkan som arbetsform påverkar kunskapsintegration i sjukhusprojekt.För att förstå dagens decentraliserade struktur av hälso- och sjukvårdsystemet samt hur det påverkar moderniseringen av det befintliga sjukhusbeståndet, tar studien ett historiskt avstamp i den centraliserade kunskapshantering som rådde under ”den första sjukhusvågen” genom Sjukvårdens och socialvårdens planerings- och rationaliseringsinstitut (SPRI). Genom en fallstudie av fyra sjukhusprojekt baserad på intervjuer och platsbesök samt flera workshops med erfarna branschrepresentanter har studiens mål varit att påvisa den effektivisering av byggprocessen som är möjlig för byggherrar och entreprenörer i sjukhusprojekt genom effektivare kunskapsintegration och erfarenhetsåterföring. I detta ingår hur samverkan mellan byggherre och entreprenör samt andra nyckelaktörer bidrar till dessa förutsättningar. Studien fokuserar på genomförandeskedet, men beaktar hur förutsättningar som skapats i tidiga skeden påverkar genomförandet. Studien fokuserar specifikt på att identifiera och analysera:1) vilken typ av kunskap som används och integreras av olika projektaktörer 2) hur samverkan i projekt påverkar kunskapsintegration 3) hur erfarenhetsåterföring till organisationerna genomförs inom och mellan projekt 4) möjligheter för kunskapsuppbyggnad kring vårdbyggandet över tidStudiens resultat omfattar tio huvudsakliga slutsatser som har konsekvenser för effektiv kunskapsintegration och erfarenhetsåterföring på projekt-, organisations- och systemnivå, där systemnivån motsvarar de olika aktörer som i ett ömsesidigt beroende är relaterade till vårdbyggandet i Sverige. Slutsatserna visar att: 1) sjukhusprojekt bygger på en integration av en mängd olika slags kunskapsbärare 2) erfarenhet och medvetenhet hos byggherre och huvudentreprenör har stor betydelse för byggprocessen, samverkansprocessen och slutprodukten 3) specialistkunskaper hos arkitekter, tekniska konsulter och installatörer är centrala och hur och när dessa integreras i processen har stor betydelse 4) det krävs aktiv styrning av hur, när och vilka verksamhetsrepresentanter som involveras och i vilken grad 5) återkommande relationer är viktiga kunskapsbärare 6) standarder och föreskrifter för vårdbyggnader är en viktig utgångspunkt men användandet av dessa kräver erfarenhet för att kunna anpassas till det specifika projektet 7) samverka är en kunskap och kompetens i sig, dvs. förmågan att kunna praktisera samverkan 8) gemensamt framtagna och projektspecifika organiserings- och styrningsprinciper har en positiv påverkan på hur samverkan upplevs och därmed den fortsatta viljan att samverka 9) olika affärsmodeller påverkar incitamentsstrukturen, vilket i sin tur påverkar genomförandet och utfallet av samverkan 10) ett silobaserat förhållningssätt hos de enskilda aktörerna begränsar möjligheterna till erfarenhetsåterföring och kunskapsutveckling över tid kring vårdbyggandet på projekt-, organisations-, och systemnivå. Det finns därmed ett stort behov av att i större utsträckning dela erfarenheter mellan byggprocessens olika aktörer och mellan regionerna. Behovet av kunskapsdelande arenor på systemnivå, oberoende av specifika projekt, är skriande stort och nödvändigt för att tillvarata sjukhusfastigheters systemiska karaktär som sammankopplade noder i ett större vårdsystem av olika vårdgivare. Det är just i beaktande av planering av sjukhusfastigheter utifrån ett sådant systemiskt perspektiv som det finns ett behov av vidare forskning, dvs. vidare studier av regionernas planeringsprocesser, behovet av större interregional koordinering samt hur detta påverkar fastighetsförvaltarnas byggherreroll i olika sjukhusprojekt. Rapportens resultat konkretiseras i den färdplan som tagits fram för att effektivisera kunskapsintegration i sjukhusprojekt och som riktar sig till olika aktörer, yrkesroller och befattningar relaterade till vårdbyggandet antingen genom medverkan i projekt, en funktion på central organisationsnivå och/eller genom involvering på systemnivå. Med utgångspunkt i ett antal utmaningar identifierar färdplanen fyra nyckelområden: Behov av kunskap i upphandling, Organisering och styrning i byggprocessen, Samverkan på riktigt, och Kunskapsuppbyggnad. En effektivisering av kunskapsintegration möjliggörs om: kunskap och kompetens kring vårdbyggnation tas tillvara i upphandlingsförfarandet,  byggprocessens organisering och styrning reglerar när och hur relevant kunskap används, samverkan praktiseras på riktigt utifrån att parterna kan och vill lösa uppgiften tillsammans, nyvunnen kunskap tillvaratas och erfarenheter återförs som en del i kunskapsuppbyggnad över tid. Varje nyckelområde innehåller ett antal centrala hållpunkter och ett samspel mellan dessa genererar en spiraleffekt där kunskapen som omsätts på projekt-, organisations- och systemnivå skapar en kollektiv kunskapsuppbyggnad över tid.

Theories of business relationships and networks suggest that a firm's relationships with other organizations matter for its performance and survival (Hakansson & Snehota, 1995). Inspired by business relationship and network perspectives, we expand Teece's (2007) dynamic capabilities model and develop an interactive dynamic capabilities framework with three pairs of capabilities: sensing and being sensed, seizing and being seized, and reconfiguring and being reconfigured. Conducting process data analysis of two cases, we shed light on how firms can change and enhance their business performance through the three pairs of interactive dynamic capabilities. The framework adds to the theory of dynamic capabilities by conceptualizing how they can operate across firm boundaries, in inter-organizational relationships, networks or ecosystems populated by many organizations involved actively, and interactively, in sensing, seizing and reconfiguring themselves and each other.

Public clients’ procurement strategies are central in facilitating innovation towards sustainability. In the infrastructure sector, the three main project activities—design, production, and maintenance—are traditionally not procured in an integrated way, which results in sub-optimizations and a lack of life cycle perspective. As project actors are accustomed to traditional, non-integrated forms of contract, implementing integrated contracts imposes fundamental changes to the interdependencies among actors, resources, and activities. This study analyzes the interfaces among key project actors and the related interdependencies across design, production, and maintenance in Design–Build–Maintain contracts, and initiates a discussion on how to manage these interdependencies when implementing integrated contracts. This study of circular public procurement (CPP) focused on three infrastructure projects using integrated contracting and applied the industrial network approach (INA) to analyze interdependencies in how they may influence innovation and sustainable development. The study found significant obstacles to clients obtaining the benefits of integrated contracting and concludes that understanding interdependencies is necessary to implement integrated contracts successfully. The study contributes to the construction management literature by adapting the INA to contracting, and to the CPP literature by providing empirical evidence of sustainability and circularity in infrastructure projects.

As a part of supply chain management (SCM) initiatives to improve performance and productivity in construction projects, the use of construction logistics setups (CLSs) operated by third-party logistics (TPL) providers have increased. CLSs are often used in complex multi-project contexts, such as urban development districts, where extensive coordination of actors, resources, and activities is needed. The purpose of this paper is twofold: to investigate how main contractors engage in horizontal relationships with each other when coordinating activities and resources within and across projects in a multi-project context, and to investigate what role a TPL provider assumes when engaging in relationships with main contractors in a multi-project context. The findings are based on a case study of an urban development district with a mandatory TPL-operated CLS, and we apply the industrial network approach. In this multi-project context, the main contractors engage in coopetitive relationships, coordinating activities and resources within and across projects. The TPL provider coordinates actors, resources, and activities, facilitating smoother production by managing logistics and mediating coopetitive relationships. This can be understood as a multi-project coordination role and extends the role SCM can play in construction. In that role, a TPL provider can minimise tensions between coopetitive actors across a multitude of horizontal relationships and projects.

Purpose: This paper aims to explore corrupt exchange as a type of socioeconomic interaction in private–public relationships and its effects on material flow in connected private-private relationships. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is based on a case study of a private–public network of an import firm in Russia. It focusses on corrupt exchange in routine interactions between the firm’s managers and officials in three regulatory authorities. Findings: The study reveals how different types of corrupt exchange between firm managers, officials and intermediaries serve as a problem-solving tool that facilitates material flow through bureaucratic gates. Research limitations/implications: The paper contributes to the industrial marketing and purchasing research by showing how the social capital concept is useful for explicating mechanisms of socioeconomic interaction in business networks and how the interaction context conditions actors’ roles and interdependencies. Practical implications: The paper raises practitioners’ awareness of corrupt exchange in business networks and enables them to anticipate and manage upcoming challenges in bureaucratic procedures. Social implications: The study shows how networks’ non-transparent and manipulative tendencies may provide favourable conditions for corruption in the business landscape. Originality/value: The study provides a unique empirical insight into the socioeconomic mechanisms of corrupt exchange in business networks. It contributes theoretically by conceptualising corrupt officials as taking on the role of quasi-business actors in the personal possession of administrative authority as a resource and by using a novel conceptualisation of social capital to study private–public interaction in business networks.

While the literature on academia-industry collaboration highlights the challenges linked to the theory-practice divide, it only partially addresses the heterogeneous nature of the knowledge produced and the scope of the theorising process. Based on an exemplary case, this paper suggests that academia-industry collaboration is a useful but insufficient platform for academic and managerial theorising. Its key contributions include: 1) a model depicting a total knowledge development process enlarging the scope of collective theorising beyond the dyad and the co-production of knowledge resources; 2) envisioning this collaboration as a relationship with evolving roles and interaction patterns; and 3) shedding new light on the theory-practice divide and the idea of knowledge relevance. 

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to address the problematic yet under-researched issue of the disconnectedness of the temporary and permanent levels of organisation in project-based firms in terms of learning and innovation diffusion. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is based on a longitudinal case study of a pioneering French construction firm introducing the partnering method in France. Based on an abductive approach, the analytical framework combines insights of the literature on community and networks of practice to investigate the processes and mechanisms of diffusion of innovation in project-based firms. Findings: The function of semi-permanent organisational levels in connecting the temporary and permanent levels of the firm – the communities of practice (CoPs) and network of practice (NoP) exists besides the formal organization of the firm. As a social learning process, innovation diffusion involves both formal (i.e. vertical) and informal (i.e. horizontal) forms of organising and learning. Intermediary and informal ways of organising enables the embedding of innovation both in terms of content and connections. Foremost, CoPs/NoPs contribute to relational embeddedness. Boundary actors and objects are essential in crossing the different levels of embeddedness to overcome the learning boundaries between temporary projects and the permanent firm. Research limitations/implications: The investigation is built on a single case study and further empirical research is needed, preferably longitudinal case studies, as this allows greater capture of the diffusion process. The authors suggest further studies using practice-based perspectives to capture the formal and informal ways of organising innovation diffusion. Practical implications: Managerial interventions should favour the development of the informal dynamics of community and networks to foster both innovation and its diffusion. The managerial challenge lies in creating the right prerequisites for the existence of both the informal community logics of organising and the formal top management decision-making, and to orchestrate their timing in the diffusion process. Social implications: The study reveals the importance of both formal and informal networks in driving innovation. As such, project-based firms should be aware of these dynamics when striving for change. Originality/value: The study contributes to the literatures on diffusion of innovation, project marketing and construction management. It includes new insights related to the function of intermediary and informal organisational levels of project-based organisations, the dynamics and connection between the temporary and permanent levels of the project-based firm related to communities and networks of practice, and the boundary spanning activities that are involved between the formal and informal levels of the firm.

Project partnering has become an all the more established form for client-contractor collaboration.  Although a well-reported phenomenon in the construction management literature, most studies focus on partnering practices in single projects and the immediate effects for the directly involved actors.  Few investigations have studied the long-term effects of partnering, including both directly involved project actors and indirectly affected actors in relation to the constructed assets.  If partnering is meant to enhance the quality of constructed assets, it should also improve their ability to support user activities.  With the purpose of exploring the long-term effects of partnering in relation to interrelated projects and the various users of the constructed assets, the following research question is posed: what are the direct and indirect effects of project partnering on a long-term basis? To scrutinize this, a longitudinal case study covers a series of projects involving the same key actors and the subsequent operations of one of the constructed assets - a first of its kind proton radiation clinic in the Nordic countries.  By mapping the involved actors’ resources across the projects and within a larger health care system, various effects are traced.  A key conclusion is that the actors directly involved in partnering have the opportunity to reap several benefits from joint resource development within and across projects, while the actors using the constructed asset struggle in relating the developed resources within the projects to resources of the wider permanent context of the building in use.